Disclaimer and Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
The following provisions apply to all Applicants who have opted for or intending to opt for Services at the Canada Visa Application Centre/s whether in person or through mail as applicable.
VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd (hereinafter referred to as “VFS”) is the outsourced service provider of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, (“IRCC”). In this capacity VFS operates the Canada Visa Application Centre/s through its subsidiaries or partners and is authorized to perform administrative functions for IRCC related to temporary resident visa, permit applications and applications for travel documents for permanent residents of Canada. The Applicants agree and understand that the charges paid to VFS for the services availed by the Applicants are non-refundable under any circumstances.
Applicants acknowledge that the responsible Canada Visa Office reserves the right to ask for further documentation or interview in order to make a decision on visa applications.
VFS does not undertake or guarantee:
- The result of any application.
- Save as expressly provided herein, VFS, is not responsible for, and hereby excludes, all liability in respect of any injury, loss or damage of any kind whatsoever arising from any delay in processing or rejection of a visa application.
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While reasonable precautions are taken while handling Applicant documents, including passports, VFS, shall not be liable or responsible (except to the extent as mentioned herein below) whether in contract, tort or in any other manner, to Applicants for any injury, loss or damage of any kind whether arising from:
- The handling of passports and documents by the Canada Visa Application Centre/s and its Subcontractors;
- Any Value-added services availed by the Applicants.
- An act of God;
- Any accident or theft in any measures;
- Any other circumstances beyond the control of the Canada Visa Application Centre/s and its Subcontractors.
In the event a passport is lost or damaged in transit through courier and or while in the possession of VFS and/or the Canada Visa Application Centre/s, its authorized Subcontractors, the liability of VFS, and/or the Canada Visa Application Centre/s, its authorized Subcontractors is limited to reimbursement of official fees charged by the relevant authority for replacement of a lost or damaged passports and visas through normal application procedure only. VFS, and/or the Canada Visa Application Centre/s, its authorized Subcontractors shall not be responsible or liable for any consequential loss or damage caused to an Applicant due to the loss of or damage to his or her passport or supporting documents.
All charges for services provided by the VAC and listed on the Service and Service Charge Schedule webpage of this website are non-refundable.
VFS have placed links on this website which takes one to another website/s, which the Applicants may wish to visit. VFS does not review such websites and has no control over their content. Therefore, VFS does not accept any liability if the Applicants visit those websites and avail services in respect thereof. Once the Applicant/s link to another site, they are also subject to the terms and conditions of that site. While it is important to note that no employee / subcontractor of VFS has any right or authority to change, amend, and amplify the contents mentioned herein.
These Conditions shall be governed in all respects by the local laws and any disputes arising from these Conditions shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the local courts.
Privacy Policy
Scope
VFS Global Services (hereinafter referred to as ‘VFS’) is a Contractor of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and is authorized to perform administrative functions related to processing of temporary resident visa, permit and travel document applications. This Privacy notice describes how VFS collects, uses, discloses and manages personal information from individuals (hereinafter referred to as “Applicant(s)”) applying for visas and permits, and makes available to relevant authorities for the purpose detailed below.
Purpose of collection and use of Personal Information
Personal information may be collected to:
- Process requests for temporary resident visa, permit and travel document applications;
- Respond to requests regarding application status;
- Track applications; and
- Respond to applicant inquiries (collectively, “Services”)
VFS only collects personal information from Applicants to perform the Services. Provision of personal information to VFS is voluntary. Please note, however, that a refusal to provide personal information may limit our ability to provide the requested Services. Personal information is collected directly from Applicants or an authorized representative on behalf of Applicants. The applicant should provide their consent on the consent form in cases of direct or indirect consent, as applicable
Application Processing: Applicants may be asked to provide on the visa application form certain personal information including name, photograph, address, date of birth, telephone number, passport information, birth certificate, income, citizenship status, marital status, and employment, criminal and educational background information. This personal information is collected to provide the Government of Canada, and/ or relevant Canada Visa Offices with information required to process Applicants’ requests for visas and permits. This personal information will also be used to return Applicants’ passport and documents once the application has been processed by the Canada Visa Office in the manner authorized at the time of application submission.
Application Status: Applicants must choose to provide their name and reference number or unique application tracking ID by telephone to receive an update on the status of their visa, permit or travel document applications.
Online Application Tracking: Applicants will be required to provide date of birth and tracking ID on our website for purposes of tracking the status of their application
Applicant Inquiries: Certain limited personal information such as family name, date of birth, phone number, street address, email address, application date and tracking ID may be collected if you contact us by phone with an inquiry or comment. Please note that email correspondence may not be secure. Applicants should not provide personal details such as passport number while communicating via email or phone. We recommend that Applicants do not reveal the specific nature of the service sought or application made via e-mail.
Disclosures of Personal Information: VFS will not disclose trade, rent, sell or otherwise transfer your personal information, except as otherwise set out herein and with the agreement of the Government of Canada. Your personal information shall be used only for the purposes mentioned herein. VFS may need to disclose personal information when required by law when it is necessary to comply with a court order, any on-going judicial proceeding, or other legal process served on VFS or to exercise the legal rights or defend against legal claims, criminal investigations, judicial matters, national security or prevention, investigation, detection, prosecution of criminal activities.
Transfer to Canada: Personal information collected by VFS will be transferred to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), located in Canada, for the purposes of application processing and as otherwise required to render the Services. The information in electronic form will reside temporarily in the VFS data bases hosted in data centers located in Canada. The biometric information collected from the applicant by VFS will be transferred directly to the Government of Canada, in Canada.
Service Provider Arrangements: VFS may transfer (or otherwise make available) your personal information to third parties that provide services on our behalf. For example, we may use service providers to provide courier services. Personal data such as name, address, phone number may be provided to courier service providers. The personal information will not be shared with the SMS service provider. Your personal information may be maintained and processed by service providers located outside of Canada. Service providers are provided with the information they need to perform their designated functions and we do not authorize them to use or disclose personal information for their own purposes.
Cookies
Cookies are files or pieces of information that may be stored on your system or internet enabled devices when you visit the VFS website. Once you access VFS website, you consent to our use of cookies. If you do not agree to our use of cookies, you should not use our website. If the cookies that we use are disabled, it may impact the user experience of our website. VFS uses cookies to make the website simpler to use. We cannot identify you personally from this information.
- VFS website offers certain features that are only available through the use of cookies.
- The cookies help identify applicants or website users and maintain their signed-in status.
- Most cookies are "session cookies," meaning that they are automatically deleted from applicant’s/ website user’s hard drive at the end of a session. “Persistent cookies” remain in place across multiple visits to our websites.
- Applicant/ website user is always free to decline the cookies if their browser permits, although doing so may interfere with applicant’s or website user’s use of the website.
- Applicant/ website user may encounter cookies from any links or third parties on certain pages of the website that VFS does not control such as links to IRCC website and/ or any other links authorized by IRCCVFS and its contracting parties, principals, affiliate/s, among others, do not tolerate spam. A user/users is/are not licensed, permitted, expected to add, modify, deface, hack, misuse or abuse VFS’ website or the contents therein. To report any issues related to spam or spoof emails to VFS, please address e-mails to communications@vfsglobal.com
- Applicant/ website user may not use VFS’ communication tools or webpage to send spam or otherwise send content that would violate our user agreement. VFS filters and automatically scans messages for viruses and other illegal or prohibited content before they are sent. VFS does not permanently store email messages sent to or by it through various formats. VFS does not rent or sell any email addresses to third parties.
Security
VFS has implemented measures designed to help protect personal information in our custody and control. We maintain reasonable administrative, technical, physical and organizational safeguards in an effort to help protect against unauthorized access, use, modification and disclosure of personal information in our custody and control.
Retention & Destruction
Application packages collected from Applicants will not be copied or retained by VFS. Any other paper, hard copies, forms or other records containing personal information will be destroyed by a secure shredding process within thirty (30) days of a passport’s return to an applicant.
Applicant personal information may be retained in electronic form for a maximum of thirty (30) days after a passport and documents have been returned to the Applicants for the purposes of assisting the Applicants should they contact us with follow-up questions. VFS performs secure disposal or destruction of personal information or the equipment or devices used for storing personal information. When disposing of or destroying personal information, VFS takes appropriate measures to prevent unauthorized parties from gaining access and when disposing of equipment or devices used for storing personal information (such as filing cabinets, computers, diskettes, and audio tapes), take appropriate measures to remove or delete any stored information or otherwise to prevent access by unauthorized parties
Legal
VFS and its service providers may provide your personal information in response to a search warrant or other legally valid inquiry or order, or to an investigative body in the case of a breach of an agreement or contravention of law, or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law. VFS may also disclose personal information where necessary for the establishment, exercise or a defense of legal claims, or as otherwise permitted by law.
Third Party Links
Our website may contain links to other sites that VFS does not own or operate such as links to IRCC
websites or any other links authorized by IRCC etc. We provide these links as a convenience and this
does not indicate that VFS is necessarily associated with any of these other websites. Neither VFS, nor
their officers, employees, agents have any responsibility or liability of any nature whatsoever for
other websites or any information contained in them, none of which have been verified or endorsed by
VFS or its affiliates.
The linked websites have separate and independent privacy statements, notices and terms of use, which
we recommend you carefully review. We do not have any control over such websites, and therefore have no
liability or responsibility for the linked websites’ personal information practices.
Access to your Personal Information
You have the right to access, update and correct inaccuracies in your personal information in our custody and control. You may also request access, updating and corrections of inaccuracies by emailing or writing to us at the contact information provided below.
VFS shall not be held responsible for the authenticity or accuracy of the information provided by the Applicant. It shall be the duty of the Applicant to ensure that the information provided to VFS is accurate.
Right to opt out (Withdrawal of Consent):
VFS respects your privacy and gives you an option not to provide information or data that needs to be submitted. You can withdraw your consent that was given to earlier. However, the same needs be communicated to VFS in writing. Once an applicant has withdrawn their consent, VFS will no longer be able to provide them with CVAC administrative support services.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
Please be advised that the Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time and we suggest applicants regularly visit our website to access the latest policy statement.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the practices described herein, you may write to privacy@vfsglobal.com for more information.
Complaints and Inquiries
If at any time you believe that VFS has not adhered to the Privacy Policy, please inform us by e-mail at privacyofficer@vfsglobal.com and we will make all commercially reasonable efforts and steps to promptly determine and resolve the issue.
You may direct complaints or inquiries about the organization’s information management practices to the privacy officer, at privacyofficer@vfsglobal.com. You also have the right to direct complaints to the Office of the Privacy Commission of Canada at https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/
Beware of fraudulent job offers
Fraudulent Recruitment / Employment Offers
It has come to VFS Global’s attention that, individuals misrepresenting themselves as VFS Global’ agents or representatives have approached people to offer fraudulent/fictitious employment opportunities, with the intent to steal personal information or solicit money from people. We encourage you to exercise caution and common sense when receiving any such employment offer, which requires payment of any fees/money, or promises a work visa in exchange for money. The said offers are completely fake and not valid. VFS Global is not a Recruitment agency and does not offer recruitment services. Scammers operate primarily via the internet, email, phone etc. We warn people to beware of such scams.
Please be advised that, VFS Global is a visa processing company and we work only with government and diplomatic missions to fulfil their administrative requirements of visa application processing. Neither VFS Global nor its representatives will ask for money from individuals under any circumstances to lure them with employment opportunities either in VFS Global or outside. If you receive any offer that purports to be from VFS Global, which ask for money, these types of offers are fraudulent.
Warning signs of recruitment fraud
The following are some examples of recruitment fraud which are in violation of VFS Global’s processes and ethical practices:
- The email is not sent from an official VFS Global e-mail address but from a free e-mail service such as: Hotmail, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc. It is also possible that, the email is sent from a fake email address.
- You are asked to disclose private or confidential information.
- You are asked to be interviewed over the phone or via an instant-messenger type program.
- You are requested to pay fees/money.
- You are requested to complete bogus recruitment documentations such as an application or employment visa forms, (the VFS Global name and logo could be forged/fabricated and featured on the documentation without authority).
- Insistence on urgency.
- Money will be requested for processing Work Permits, Visa applications or the like.
Such actions are presumably intended to defraud or obtain personal information from the victims.
The activities of these individuals involve criminal and civil liabilities. While VFS Global takes such matter seriously and reserves its right to contact competent law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute such illegal activities, it is often difficult to locate and prosecute these individuals.
Therefore, if you receive a request, either in writing or verbally, for an interview or a job offer that you believe is or might be fraudulent or suspicious, please disregard them. You may also verify the same with VFS Global at communications@vfsglobal.com
If you come to know that a fraud is being perpetrated, we encourage to forthwith contact your local police and/or any competent authorities and also to keep us informed by reporting the fraud at acco@vfsglobal.com
Under no circumstances will VFS Global be liable or responsible for any loss, damages, expenses or inconvenience resulting from these unauthorized persons and/or activities.